Indian, noun and & adjective

Origin:
EnglishShow more Special senses of general English.
A. noun
1. Obsolete except in historical contexts In the Cape colony: a European (usually British) resident of India; Hindoo noun. Also attributive.
Note:
Not exclusively South African English.
1830 Cape of G.H. Lit. Gaz. I. JuneTake her as your free servant, no longer a slave. Take her as your friend...God bless you both, and when you supplicate on high, ask heaven’s mercy for Wilkinson the Indian.
1833 S. Afr. Almanac & Dir. 137The Indians are warm supporters of this, as they are of almost every Philanthropic Institution.
1834 Cape of G.H. Lit. Gaz. July 103The number of matches that have taken place between the fair Africanders (the general term for natives of European descent..) and ‘Indians,’ proves that their attractions are appreciated.
1834 Cape of G.H. Lit. Gaz. July 103Many Indians have complained of a want of hospitality and attention to strangers at the Cape; but, in reality, the English residents have not the means of exercising an indiscriminate hospitality among so numerous a class.
1862 M. Truter in A. Gordon-Brown Artist’s Journey (1972) Arrived at Mr du Toit’s place where I had the pleasure to meet a large company of Indians.
1972 L.G. Green When Journey’s Over 121The visitors who widened the vocabulary were white military officers and officials of the Honourable East India Company, and they were nicknamed ‘Hindoos’ or ‘Indians.’
2.
a. A South African of Indian or Pakistani descent. See also Asian noun.
Note:
Quotation 1980 reflects the use of ‘Indian’ as a racial designation in terms of the Population Registration Act.
1942 Off. Yr Bk of Union No. 22, 1941 (Union Office of Census & Statistics) 984The population is divided for census purposes into four racial groups...Asiatics — natives of Asia and their descendants; mainly Indians [etc.].
1946 Act 28 in Stat. of Union 194‘Indian’ means any member of a race or tribe whose national home is in India or Ceylon.
1953 Drum Jan. 14Indian merchants have been warned not to exploit Indians and Africans.
1961 H.F. Verwoerd in Hansard 10 Apr. 4192If it were possible to get the Indians out of the country completely, if one could have settled the Coloureds in a part of the country quite on their own, in their own areas like the Bantu, we would certainly have done that.
1971 Rand Daily Mail 31 May 6Durban Indian Papwa Sewgolum, won the Natal Open Golf championship, becoming the first Non- White to win a major South African golf title.
1976 Daily Dispatch 6 Feb. 14Imagine how baffled a foreigner must be to learn that there are South Africans called Indians.
1980 E. Prov. Herald 27 July 2Other applications were by..two whites who wanted to be Indian, ten coloureds who wanted to be Indian, ten Malays who wanted to be Indian, eleven Indians who wanted to be Malay, [etc.].
1990 New African 11 June 12Black is beautiful was coined to unite Amazulu, Basotho, Mashangana, Indians, so-called ‘Coloureds’, etc.
b. comb.
Indian time, see quotation. Cf. African time.
c1983 R. Mesthrie Lexicon of South African Indian English. 64To run on Indian time, To be behind schedule. Usually said of weddings, prayers and public functions which often begin a good half-hour after the advertised commencing time.
B. adjective
1. Obsolete except in historical contexts (Of a foreign visitor of European descent.) Resident in India; from India (see sense A 1); Hindoo adjective.
Note:
Not exclusively South African English.
1834 A.G. Bain in A. Steedman Wanderings (1835) II. 227As my Indian friends were bound to Lattakoo.., I was here reluctantly obliged to part with these amiable and worthy gentlemen.
1835 G. Champion Jrnl (1968) 25The Temperance Society here owes its existence & efficiency to the Indian residents of the Cape. These gentlemen are officers in the army, & others in government service in India who have left that sultry clime for a few months, to enjoy the healthy air of the Cape...They retain their salaries, if they proceed no further than the Cape.
1843 Cape of G.H. Almanac & Annual Register p.xiiWynberg is truely [sic] the ‘Sweet Auburn’ of South Africa...Here our Indian Visiters [sic] generally reside, and breathe the life-giving and health-restoring properties of its..air.
1885 L.H. Meurant 60 Yrs AgoMr Advocate Cloete, two Indian residents, two medical gentlemen and two English merchants of Cape Town.
1965 A. Gordon-Brown S. Afr. Heritage III. 5Higher up the street was the Society House..usually with a group — largely of ‘Indian Visitors’ — standing round the doorway, These visitors, who came to the Cape to recuperate from the effects of the Indian climate, represented a large and wealthy section of Cape society.
2. (Of a South African.) Of Indian or Pakistani descent (see sense A 2).
1892 W.L. Distant Naturalist in Tvl 117We reached Heidelberg about 10 a.m., a small and very established town...It has a considerable ‘coolie’ or Indian population.
1941 C.W. De Kiewiet Hist. of S. Afr. 148The difficulties caused by Natal’s Indian population.
1953 Drum Jan. 14In the past the Indian merchants succeeded in persuading the Indian masses to keep aloof from the political troubles of the blacks.
1961 Govt Gaz. Vol.1 No.71, 4Creation of a Department of Indian Affairs and Provision for the Appointment of a Head of Department.
1970 Daily News 18 May 22 (advt)Young Indian or Coloured Lady Required for clerical work.
1982 S. Afr. Panorama Feb. 8South African groups representing the Swazi, Xhosa, Zulu, Shangaan, Indian and Malay communities took part in..the festival.
1990 J. McClurg in Star 11 Sept. 11A graphic illustrating the operation of the racket also depicted ‘an Indian businessman’...Mr Kaka is..unhappy about the use of ‘Indian’ to denote a South African of Indian descent.
3. combinations.
Indian shop, Indian store, a shop (usually a general dealer) owned by one of Indian origin.
1935 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 23It was a good blue flannel shirt that I had bought only a few weeks ago from the Indian store at Ramoutsa.
1972 Sunday Times 24 Sept. 5My first trouble with the law began when I was 15. I stole something from an Indian shop.
1974 Daily Dispatch 3 Aug. 9There’s a little Indian shop fairly near her home in front of which is a stretch of soft sand about the size of a tennis court.
a European (usually British) resident of India; Hindoo noun. Also attributive.
A South African of Indian or Pakistani descent.
Resident in India; from India (see sense A 1); Hindoo adjective.
(Of a South African.) Of Indian or Pakistani descent (see sense A 2).
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18301990
independent, adjectiveadj.indicator, nounn.
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